suburbs

When most of us rationalize our outrageous rents (and for buyers, real estate prices), our first go-to argument usually involves something along the lines of how great it is to live so close to work and the bustling city. But as it turns out, there are actually more than a handful of neighborhoods outside of the borders of Manhattan that boast way better commute times than even Brooklyn. Real estate data start-up NeighborhoodX is back again with yet another eye-opening visualization, this time pitting the commute times and real estate prices of various New Jersey, New York and Connecticut suburbs, and a few popular Queens and Brooklyn nabes, against one another.

The initial results may not surprise you–young adults living in New York City tend to set up shop in North Brooklyn, the Far West Side, the Upper East Side, the East Village and western Queens. This data is courtesy of a new mapping project from the University of Waterloo School of Planning in Ontario called Generationed City.

Using census and crowd-sourced data, the project compares demographic patterns of millennials (typically defined as those born between 1980 and 2000) to that of older generations like baby boomers. It looks at North American cities with populations over 1 million where it’s commonly accepted that millennials live in central parts of cities. While the largest chunk of NYC-based data is pretty on par with what we already knew, there are some other trends, both within the city and compared with other cities, that are a bit more curious.

Has the pendulum swung back to favoring life in the ‘burbs? A new poll conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reveals that millennials would rather buy a home in the suburbs than squeeze into a cramped condo in the city. The survey showed that 66 percent would prefer to live in the suburbs, 24 percent want to live in rural areas, and just 10 percent want to live in a city center. The NAHB used a sample of 1,506 people born since 1977 to come to their conclusions.

Cycle While You Work: Because standing desks are boring and treadmill desks are an eyesore. FastCo.Design highlights WeWatt’s cycling desk that helps you stay fit, improves work ethic, and charges your smartphone!

Yummy Cake…From A Spray Can: Solving the real problems of life, two Harvard students have created a sprayable, microwaveable cake batter for easy baking without the mess. One of the students revealed to the Washington Post that ultimately they want an “organic and kosher certified” product. We’re not exactly sure if you can get that from “food” in a can.

No Longer Able To Keep Up With The Joneses: The hard truth is that poverty exists and is growing in the suburbs. Slate reports that high poverty started to become more concentrated in suburban neighborhoods since the early 2000s.

Images: Left – Cycling Desk from WeWatt’s Facebook page; right – Spray Cake courtesy of John McCallum and Brooke Nowakowski for the Washington Post